Dhanalakshmi beats Dutee Chand to win Federation Cup gold

The 100m race at the Federation Cup in Patiala was billed as a clash between the two titans of Indian athletics - Hima Das and Dutee Chand.

While Das is a former World junior medalist in the 400m event, Dutee is the current national record holder and a double silver medalist in the 2018 Asian Games. However, the final standings surprised everyone, as Tamil Nadu's Dhanalakshmi S stumped her more illustrious opponents to win the gold medal at the Federation Cup 100m race.

How did the 100m race at the Federation Cup unfold?

The 100m event at the Federation Cup was one of the most awaited races of the 24th Federation Cup, as it also served as a qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics.

Hima Das, who won the 100-meter race at the Indian Grand Prix earlier this month, was disqualified for a false start. Thus the contest was effectively between Dutee Chand and Dhanalakshmi S, but the level of the race in the Federation Cup didn't disappoint.

Dhanalakshmi came out trumps, finishing the Federation Cup race to win gold with a timing of 11.39 seconds; Dutee Chand clocked 11.58 seconds to take home the silver. Tamil Nadu's Archana S Suse finished third in the 100m race of the Federation Cup with a timing of 11.76 seconds.

Dhana Lakhmi from Tamil Nadu the new women's 100 m champion. The women's 100m was full of suspense. All eyes were on Dutee and Hima. Hima got disqualified because of a false start and Dutee came second after almost a decade. Today the spot light is on neeraj chopra 😎

— Ridhima Pathak (@PathakRidhima) March 17, 2021

The victory was a landmark moment for Dhanalakshmi, as she had lost to Dutee Chand quite a few times in the domestic circuit, including the Khelo India University Games last year, where Chand finished a whooping 0.5s ahead of Dhanalakshmi.

None of the Federation Cup runners breached the Olympic qualification mark

Although Dhanalakshmi was able to defeat the national record holder Dutee Chand in the 100m race, she fell well short of the Olympic qualification mark of 11.15s.

Tamil Nadu's Dhanalakshmi upsets Dutee Chand to win the 100m gold at the Federation Cup Athletics Championship in Patiala. #federationcup #athletics #TN pic.twitter.com/VdMdYEnfK4

— Santhosh Kumar (@giffy6ty) March 16, 2021

The lockdown and disrupted practice schedules because of the pandemic seems to have had an impact on the top national athletes.

Dutee Chand's national record stands at 11.22s, set in 2019. So achieving the qualification mark for the 100m race at the Olympics will require a superhuman effort, as only four months remain for the sporting extravaganza.